You can't be the man in charge and pass the buck. The McHale hiring led us to here. And the Bickerstaff promotion continues a culture of enabling. So gonna disagree this is his fault, and he has to fix it. DD
LeBron Anthony Davis Chris Paul Klay Thompson John Wall Kyle Lowry Paul George Kawhi Leonard DeMarcus Cousins For starters
LMAO Morey has his fair share of blame. it starts and ends with him He is the one who believes he has solved basketball. he believes coaching does not matter so he hires and persists with a lackey in McHale for 4 years. And then goes on and keeps McHale's assistant who has learned all the bad habits under McFail He institutes Moreyball without the shooters needed to play that system effectively. he hands out stupid contracts to once in a blue moon guys like Brewer He makes busty pick after busty pick in the 1st round, latest being Dekker. He talks about high character team a nd goes and acquires Lawson which is fine but you need a coach to handle all these egos. Honestly, Maury is vastly over-rated out here. He is not a top 7 GM, perhaps not even top 10
I don't know who's fault it is that we are now a bad team. We won 56 games last year with the same players and coaches that started this year. What changed? I don't know. But, Morey is the guy that has to try to fix what's wrong. I think the problem is more player related than coaching related. Morey is the guy that has the power to make changes. I don't know if trading a few minor players is going to change the course of this team. So, if big changes are needed, I say go for it.
Yes it is. This is his system. He picked Mchale and JB. He's to blame just as much as the players and coaching staff. Once Houston gets rid of Morey they will be better off. His system is an absolute fail
It's partly his fault. Yes, he's done a very good job rebuilding this roster without the team tanking for high lottery picks. And he did put together a seemingly very talented team heading into this season. But he cannot be absolved of all the blame. He(and Les) hired McHale 4 years ago. At the time, it was an acceptable move since the Rockets looked like they were going nowhere and no respectable big name coach was gonna take this job. But once that Lillard 3-pointer went in a year and half ago, they were at a crossroads and needed to think long and hard about whether McHale was the right guy to lead this team to a title. Instead they didn't even let 24 hours pass before announcing his 4th year option was being picked up. And while McHale did a very good job with the team last season given the hand he was dealt with injuries, a lot of the same problems persisted such as taking weak opponents lightly, defensive lapses allowing other teams to get back in the game, careless turnovers, ISO offense with everyone standing around, and a failure to make adjustments during games. Yes, they made it to the WCF, but they were extremely fortunate to do so considering the Rockets no-showed in Game 4 vs Dallas and Games 1, 3 & 4 vs the Clippers(not to mention Game 3 vs the Warriors). So now this season when Harden and several other players were no longer playing well enough to cover up these problems, the team is in a freefall. Morey is also responsible for blowing several first rounders(Morris, White, Dekker). He's implemented a 3-point shooting offense without stocking the team with reliable outside shooters. He's emphasized getting to the foul line while burdening the team with horrible free throw shooters. He's signed, drafted, and traded for players who suck as individual defenders(or flat out refuse to try on defense). Bottom line, Morey shares some of the blame. And between now and next summer(assuming Les gives him that long), it will be the most pivotal period of his tenure as GM with this organization. He and Les need to decide what to do next(rebuild or retool) and how to go about doing that(free agency, trades, tanking). And now that McHale's already been fired, it's no longer the coach's fault if things don't go well. Now it's all on management.
Ariza has been averaging 14 or 15 pts per game in Washington with Beal and Wall on board but he is only considered a 4th option here at best. Not that he is an allstar but he could do more. I think we can get better two way players at the 4 and 1 position but also let Harden rest and go with Thornton(what the heck the season is almost at halftime and I do not care about stats padder Harden at this point no matter how great he seems to be on the surface) get better ball movement, defensive rotations, ......just win some games or develop other players
This is not all Moreys fault but he definitely shares some of blame 1. Re-signing a coach who clearly had weaknesses and did not have great reoutation in the League (not on Byron Scott's level but not highly regarded either). No matter how much players "like" him, withiut respect most relationships -- especially coaching relationships - are going to founder 2. Not understanding the importance of coaching and reportedly wanted a coach who would be a pupoet. Coaching matters. See Steve Kerr. See Brad Stevens. 3. Not understanding the importance of character in building a good team. I remember when Rockets were going through rebuild Morey saying something like yeah character was important and if you were the Spurs you could prioritize it. But Rockets did not have that luxury now. They just had to get key pieces in place. You have guys who are not like Olajuwon or Duncan to begin with, add in a players coach who lets them do whatever they want, things might work fine for a while when they are all playing well. Harden was more locked in last year after his World Cup summer etc. but now you throw in a weird off season for Harden, lot of celebrity coverage, a new PG who is supposed to fix a lot of problems, who iturms out to be disappointing, a couple of key players injured, some losses, leading to bad morale -- then you are suddenly in middle of tail spin This roster and players are still so much better than they have been playing. But so e of the problem does go back to how roster and coaching staff were constructed - and that is in Morey
judging by how long it's been since his last radio interview, he must think this mess is at least somewhat his fault....otherwise he'd have no problem facing the public
good question. and a great myth. why the team w/ basically the same personnel can be so drastically different. a rarity that's mind-boggling. if i have to guess, it's harden. but i am just speculating w/o any inside info...
I won't enumerate my pet peeves or where I think the team might have gone wrong. It doesn't really matter. Morey might have done nothing wrong at all. But, he's the boss so the buck stops with him. Sometimes bosses get axed for random idiosyncratic misfortunes that befall their organizations. That comes with being the boss. Not saying I want to see Morey fired. I was leaning that way the summer before Harden, but not now. Just saying that whether it is his 'fault' or not, he's the man who wears responsibility for the way this season is going.
sometimes it's pointless to figure out who are to blame. a far more important question is what to do from where we are.
